As network communications among multiple computing devices have become ubiquitous, the quantity of information available via such network communications has increased exponentially. For example, the ubiquitous Internet and World Wide Web comprise information sourced by a vast array of entities throughout the world, including corporations, universities, individuals and the like. Such information is often marked, or “tagged”, in such a manner that it can be found, identified and indexed by services known as “search engines”. Even information that is not optimized for search engine indexing can still be located by services, associated with search engines, which seek out information available through network communications with other computing devices and enable a search engine to index such information for subsequent retrieval.
Due to the sheer volume of information available to computing devices through network communications with other computing devices, users increasingly turn to search engines to find the information they seek. Search engines typically enable users to search for any topic and receive, from this vast volume of information, identifications of specific content that is deemed to be responsive to, or associated with, the users' queries. To sort through the vast amounts of information that is available, and timely provide useful responses to users' queries, search engines employ a myriad of mechanisms to optimize the identification and retrieval of responsive and associated information.
Because search engines can serve a central function in connecting users with specific information, users often utilize search engine functionality as a steppingstone to further information collection or information exchange. Consequently, the providers of search engine functionality and searching services can enable users to perform other actions without departing from the search service, including, for example, sending messages, generating postings or otherwise authoring content that is to be shared with one or more other individuals, such as via a social networking context. Other ubiquitous network services, such as the accessing of electronic mail, can, likewise, seek to enable users to perform other actions without departing from their domain.